COLCHESTER CASTLE

Essex

Astonishingly the glory days of Colchester as a town happened long before the Romans arrived in Britain!  Under Cunobelinius it was the Capital of south-eastern England.  The Romans arrived and changed that, leading to Boudicea razing it to the ground in AD 61.  The Romans built Colchester's beautifully preserved City Walls and a temple on the site where the Castle now stands.

The Castle was founded by William I very soon after the Norman Conquest, as a motte and bailey.  This was turned into a stone keep soon after a Danish raid on the town in 1071.  The keep that was built has the same plan as the White Tower in the Tower of London, but is considerably larger - in fact the largest floor plan of any medieval keep in England, an incredible 150 by 110 feet.

One of the real peculiarities about Colchester is that when the Castle was only one storey high and thus incomplete battlements were hastily added; possibly in 1083 when it seemed likely the Danish were about to invade.  However, the Castle was soon built to a height of at least three storeys - more probably four - only two remain today, the others having been removed in 1683 when an attempt was made to demolish the Castle (fortunately the vandals had to give up because the Castle was built too strongly).

The only action at the Castle seems to have been a brief skirmish in 1216 when it was captured by King John.

The roof was added in the 1750s and today the Castle is the Colchester and Essex Museum.

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2018